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Yesterday, at the Toronto Feral Cat Conference in the North York Civic Centre, Meredith Weiss of the New York City organization Neighborhood Cats gave about 100 people – individuals and representatives of animal protection groups – instructions on performing a mass-trapping of wild cats.

The prescribed method for dealing with the increasing population of feral cats is to trap them, neuter or spay them, vaccinate if possible and return the animals to a safe environment, tagging their ears to identify them as neutered.

The conference kit included directions for building raccoon-proof cat feeding platforms and cat shelters.

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Feral cats fall under no legal jurisdiction and their welfare is mostly a matter for volunteer animal rights advocates.

No one knows how many feral cats roam the GTA, says Deborah Chalmers, a conference organizer and member of the Toronto Feral Cat Project.

The project hopes to map feral colonies in the GTA.

There are hundreds of these colonies, says Sheila Brown, a volunteer who has worked with the Feline Protection and Adoption Association.

"My involvement tends to be to trap and neuter and either keep them or (put them up for) adoption."

Simon Shields, a Toronto lawyer with an interest in animal legal matters, revealed that people trying to care for feral cat colonies often run into opposition from parks officials or property owners. Even when they are having the animals neutered – at their own expense – they may be told they are causing a public nuisance or trespassing.

Shields said neither the federal criminal code nor the new Animal Welfare Act, about to be passed into law, provides answers to those trying to look after feral cats.

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The city is developing a strategy to confront the overpopulation of cats, including the feral felines, said speaker Eletta Purdy, manager of Toronto Animal Services.

Once Toronto had a problem with too many dogs. Now, Purdy said, "shelters are almost looking for dogs for adoption.

"That's where we want to get with cats."

A Toronto Animal Services survey last year found there were at least 323,000 cats in Toronto households. Only 9 per cent of cats are licensed, as required by law.

The survey also found 84 per cent of cat owners had their pets spayed or neutered.

Animal Services takes in 4,000 cats a year, 15 per cent of them feral, and tries to ensure that no cats are released without being neutered and vaccinated.

Research shows feral cats are territorial and expand their numbers until they reach the maximum population their territory can sustain.

Cats will replenish their population unless they are captured and rendered infertile.

Purdy produced research that showed "one queen and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats in seven years."

The statistic Animal Services would most like to reduce is that two-thirds of the cats they take in are euthanized.

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